Daily briefing: On the Queen and American football, a nerd alert and key games in the SEC
Ivan Maisel’s “Daily Briefing” for On3:
The Queen saw a 1957 upset
On October 19, 1957, Queen Elizabeth II spiced up her first state visit to the United States by watching Maryland upset No. 14 North Carolina 21-7. The Queen sat in the front row of Byrd Stadium with then-Maryland Gov. Theodore R. McKeldin, asking him, “Where do you get all those enormous players?” A 2017 story in The Washington Post said Terps co-captain Gene Alderton went to the trouble of getting a new front tooth to replace one he had lost earlier in the season because he had to make a presentation to the Queen before the game. After the upset, the joyous Terps carried coach Tommy Mont to the Queen on their shoulders. It would be her only football game. She made four more state visits to the United States, none in the fall.
Bookworms, unite!
The nerd in me is way over my skis with excitement: Vanderbilt, Duke and Northwestern, which won a combined eight games last season, already are halfway there. The Blue Devils and the Wildcats, who play in Evanston on Saturday, both produced unexpected victories in their openers. Duke ran over Temple 30-0 in its opener under new coach Mike Elko, the former defensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Notre Dame. Duke hadn’t shut out an FBS opponent since 1989, the year they won the ACC under coach Steve Spurrier. Northwestern, of course, came back from two 11-point deficits to beat Nebraska in Dublin on August 27. Vanderbilt is 2-0, and wins over Hawaii and Elon mean something only when you consider the Commodores have matched their win total for the past two seasons combined. They’re home Saturday against Wake Forest, a game in which we’ll find out whether Demon Deacons quarterback Sam Hartman can be ready without much preparation.
Arkansas-South Carolina, Florida-Kentucky have intrigue
The schedule Saturday doesn’t have the kind of blockbuster matchups annually arranged for Week One. But a couple of games will give an indication of which school is ready to step forward as a conference and/or national contender. In the SEC alone, No. 20 Kentucky at No. 12 Florida will tell us whether new coach Billy Napier quickly has found a way to corral the Gators’ talent. They’re coming off a 29-26 upset of then-No. 7 Utah; they are 2-7 against ranked opponents in the past three seasons. South Carolina goes to No. 17 Arkansas, coming off a tough, physical victory against then-No. 24 Cincinnati. The Gamecocks have shown under second-year coach Shane Beamer that they know how to steal a game. They do little things right. It’s too much to ask them to win in Fayetteville, but they’ll make a game of it.